Thread by @optimist_press

🌻 Sunflower update 🌻 Solon is approaching 10 feet in height; I was forced to build a whole new structure to support him/her and his/her peers. I call this strata of the patch, "The Atmospheres."

Anais suffered an injury that resembles a laryngectomy, and I destroyed two of her flowers while trying to save her in a flurry of despair and anxiety.

Her main flower was either too heavy or I fussed with her supports too much. I'm guessing a little of column A and a little of column B. I can see how the support I created could have yanked her around in a stiff wind, which is common here.

I was able to stabilize her main flower with a series of wires, then I patched her up with some hemp rolling papers. If you plan to care for plants, I recommend buying hemp rolling papers in bulk. They're easily shaped with H2O or saliva and harden into a cast.

I've mended both sunflowers and tomato plants with hemp rolling papers and have seen remarkable improvements with my patients.

Currently, it's a full torrential downpour in Chicago, and I fear for Anais - he/she's in a delicate state - but she has three fresh blossoms! Jane, two; Lao Tzu, one; Siddhatha, two healthy miniature flowers. And they keep growing, yet I feel myself riddled with doubt.

The emotional attachment I develop with the flowers must be cared for too. Part of love is learning when to let go, and I don't mean, "Allow one to die." I mean, allow one to live its life of peaceful self-determination.

Giant sunflowers were likely bred by humans at points during their evolution. If they could survive in the wild, it would only be in patches the size of acres.

Figuring a path between the self-determination of the flower and its obvious symbiotic relationship with us is challenging. Caring for giant sunflowers is challenging. It helps to know carpentry.

Persistence's petals are curling at the tips. I've been observing this "petal drop" . . .

I believe giant sunflowers' "petal drop" is a natural part of their life cycle. This adds an extra level of challenge because they may also lose their petals if they're not well.

It's possible they also engage in a behavior I refer to as "cowling" when injured, to protect themselves: a giant sunflower head's petals turn inward and form a cowl similar to the handmaids in @MargaretAtwood's "The Handmaid's Tale."

https://twitter.com/optimist_press/status/1419062122701541379/photo/1

I've yet to confirm this; it could be - in a stroke of irony - Anais is particularly monastic, and all her flowers will cowl, tho I couldn't be sure if this were due to her severed larnyx, and her neck is currently in a cast.

If he/she grows, I'm going to assume Anais is a nun, and my mother is right: I may have a "grüner Daumen."

When you're in The Atmospheres, everything is peaceful. If I were reborn as a leaf hopper on the leaf of a sunflower ten feet above ground, my soul would sing for the approximate length of a leaf hopper's lifetime.

As of today, Anais still has most of her/his petals despite her/his injuries.

This is Jane's second flower. Jane is very 70's.

Jane reminds me of Rhoda from the Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Sunflowers are feeding troughs for bees.

All the Atmospheres are forming flowers after that fresh downpour.

Siddhartha's second flower.

Correction: I destroyed two of her leaves; not flowers.